Xenomorph

2004 saw a lot of hugely hyped titles hit the market. Doom 3, Halo 2, Fable, GTA: San Andreas, Metal Gear Solid 3, Everquest 2, World of Warcraft...the list goes on. There were some very good games that didn't get their own media blitz, though. What was your favorite game of 2004 that everyone else passed up for the next huge release?

Sid Meier's Pirates! gets my vote. I bought it becuase of the interesting premise and the Sid Meier name, and I think it's a hell of a lot better of a buy than almost all of the games that had enough ad money to get a senator elected.

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FngKestrel

Katamari Damacy is really underrated. But there was a fat post-mortem on it in Game Developer magazine, so I guess it's not that underrated.

I'd give Colin McRae 2005 a big underrated vote. It slipped under the radar as the third in a series. Rally racing isn't very well known in the US, but this game is pretty good in its representation of rally racing with accurate physics, body damage, and overall unflinching difficulty. It's pretty fun once you get over the learning cliff.

Edit: I just realized that I'm not a crackhead. It IS Colin McRae 2005, but it was released this year. Go figure.

Spartak

Football Manager 2005

The *definite* soccer management game.

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Frosstbyte

Basically any game released near when Halo 2, Half Life 2, Metroid Prime 2, MGS3 or GTA:SA was released can kiss a fair chance of being rated out the window. Real marketing wiz-kids decided it would be a good idea to go head to head with those titles.

kofspades

I would have to say Far Cry. I know there's been a lot of talk about it, but still it's an amazing game. The AI is a lot better than HL2.

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Coppertop

I really liked Freedom Fighters. Didn't know anything about it before I bought it and I wasn't let down. I might have to reinstall it now.

FarCry was also a most excellent game. Superb AI and levels. Excellent vehicles as well.

jonjon42

oh god..Pirates sucked many days of my life away...loved it Sid is a genius.
I vote for Pirates!

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blitz.fenix

Call of Duty: UO. Man I just love high paced arcadey WW2 games. I get lots of rushes playing those types of games a la Day of Defeat.

charlesesl

Some game called Richard Burns Rally that came out this year.

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Cynthetiq

I'm digging Burnout 3: Takedown.....

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powerclown

The Suffering.
Solid, low profile third person shooter for PC.

Krycheck

Painkiller.Same physics engine as HL2. Great graphics, great mindless fragfest. Only problem was the multiplayer and some borked up patches. Current verision is great (last I checked).

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omega2K4

Sid Meier's Pirates! The best game of 2004, and the most underrated.

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Lasereth

Underrated? Halo 2. Over half of the people on the Internet say it was a huge disappointment...some are even saying it's a bad game. I think the game was as good as a FPS on a console can get. I have no qualms with it.

-Lasereth

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thecoldone33

Donkey Konga. Yes you read that right. Donkey Konga.

blitz.fenix

Yeah I definately agree, you can add this game called Half-Life 2 to that list.

Ace_O_Spades

My vote is Pirates!

Great game, had me hooked for a few weeks solid.

Will play again in a while, right now I'm all Pirated out

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Feh.

hirosada

Yeah I'm gonna have to go with Katamari Damacy for my choice of most underrated game of '04. While it may have gotten rave reviews, editors gushing over it, and nerds and ex-hippies drooling over it, the general masses don't even know what it is.

lpj8

My vote goes to Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. Although it has gotten very good reviews, it has not recieved all that much fanfare. I like it because its funny, has a good story, is fun to play, never gets boring and is well designed.

sinjien

Call of Duty UO was more than an expansion pack; it could have been a stand alone sequel. This one and Katamari were not mentioned much in the articles that i read. I Didnt try the pirate title. Read in Game Informer that it had many different aspects of gameplay that led to its high level of intertainment. One critic even compared it to a high-seas GTA with a cartoony spin. Maybe i'll check it out

Bratwurst

Pirates is great, but I wish it wasn't so G rated. They should have kept tobacco in the game, and made a few other changes. Other than that, I think it is as good as it was back when I first played it on the NES in its Pirates Gold days. Definitely upgraded in terms of graphics, but still kept the same addictive gameplay. I don't know if I have ever played a Sid Meier game I didn't like? I wish he would remake F-19 Stealth Fighter.

Mr.Deflok

Amen! That and Metroid Prime 2, sure everyone loves it and it's received rave reviews but they didn't love it enough!!!

Myst: Revelation is another, I would've paid the full amount even if it came with the Serenia Age alone.

hulk

I have to agree with MP2, I think it's easily the equal to MP. I'm just loving it.

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sadistikdreams

Def Jam: Fight for NY

This game is like San Andreas, take away everything except fighting, put it in NY, and add 40 rappers/celebs.

CARMEN ELECTRA versus XZIBIT! Where else can you find that?

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hearts, by d.a.

Xenomorph

I just got Donkey Konga today. Went on a marathon session and did all the songs in the continuous mode expecting I would unlock some mini-game or something but...no.

Minorly irritating method of opening up the restricted content aside, it's a very fun game.

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The facehugger is short-lived outside the egg which normally protects it. Armed with a long grasping tail, a spray of highly-concentrated acid and the single-minded desire to impregnate a single selected prey using its extending probe, it will fearlessly pursue and attack a single selected target until it has succeeded in attachment or it or its target is dead

Man/Amazing

Painkiller, even though it's a mindless shooter.

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